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Chapter 2 Layers of Tradition: Culture Regions at Different Scales A. Logistics Students’ Time Requirements Activity 1: Mapping Culture Regions Activity 2: Culture Traits of Your Culture Subregion Activity 3: Regional Imagery 30 minutes 40 minutes 1 hour plus travel to store Activity 1 involves various characteristics to define the Middle East or the American Southwest culture regions. Activity 2 is focused on the culture region in which your university resides and involves students identifying a list of culture traits popular or unique to your region. Activity 3 also applies to your university’s own culture region—specifically what can postcards tell us about the region’s essential traits and regional identity and whose identity is represented. None of the activities build directly on any other, so they can be done independently or in any combination. However, Activity 1 is a good introduction to Activities 2 and 3 and will help students to answer those questions. We recommend completing Activity 1 before the others. If your university is in the American Southwest, Questions 2.4 and 3.1 overlap somewhat with the material in Activity 1 and with each other. We still recommend you assign the question, however, because students will likely find postcard imagery that is not a map layer in Activity 1. Activity 1 requires access to the Internet. It can be done individually or in groups, in a computer lab or outside of class. Activity 2 is an excellent in-class group activity. It can also be done at home. Activity 3 requires students to go to a local store where postcards are sold. It is important that they go to a store with a good selection, so you may want to make some suggestions. You may wish to assign a supplemental exercise to search for competing images of regions, such as websites from state agencies, chambers of commerce, etc. These could supplement the store postcards nicely. Of all the exercises, this one has the most open-ended questions and is the most subjective. In some ways, it is the most demanding to grade. Thus, it is a candidate for pass-fail grading. B. Lesson Plan I. Culture defined II. Regions 1 1. Formal regions 2. Functional regions 3. Perceptual regions a. Vernacular regions III. Culture Traits 1. Technological 2. Sociological 3. Ideological IV. Culture Regions 1. Examples 2. Regional identity (awareness of belonging to a group united in a common territory) 3. Ways of life and the culture/landscape interface V. Cultural Landscape 1. Carl Sauer and the Berkeley School 2. Cultural values and the landscape 3. Symbols 4. Regional identity a. The problematic nature of one all-encompassing regional identity (multiculturalism) VI. Defining Culture Regions 1. Core 2. Domain 3. Sphere 4. Syncretism VII. Do Activity 1 in class if you have a computer lab. Otherwise, assign as homework. Also assign Activity 3. Do Activity 2 in class in groups. VIII. The Middle East 1. Media stereotypes and perceptions 2. Terrorism and U.S. armed intervention 3. Fertile Crescent and empires 4. Judaism and Islam 5. Ecological trilogy 6. Natural landscapes 7. Colonialism 8. Arab Spring IX. The American Southwest 1. Vegetation and climate 2. Topography and physiographic provinces 2 3. Three cultures: Native American, Hispanic, and Anglo-Americans 4. Economy X. Discussion of your local culture region and how it is portrayed on postcards (optional) C. Answer Key Activity 1: Mapping Culture Regions 1.1 American Southwest Three Peoples Fusion of Native American, European, and Hispanic Cultures Chiles Chile Peppers Coyotes Coyotes Geographers Southwest Division of the Association of American Geographers Geometric Southwest Quadrant of the United States Grazing Grazing on Public Lands Hispanic U.S. Hispanic American Borderland MexAmerica One of the Nine Nations of North America Missions Spanish Missions National Parks Ten or More National Parks, National Monuments, or National Historic Sites Native Americans Native Americans in the Southwestern United States NCAA National Collegiate Athletic Conference SW Conference Norteño Historically Isolated Frontier Region Park Service National Park Service District Saguaro Saguaro Cacti Sunshine Abundant Sunshine Vernacular Vernacular Southwest Watersheds Colorado River and Rio Grande Watersheds Middle East Arabic Camels Desert & Steppe Desert Goat Milk Irrigated Islam Oil No Pork 1.2 Arabic Language Number of Camels per Person Desert & Steppe Desert Per Capita Goat Milk Production Irrigated Land Islam as Dominant Religion Oil Rich Lack of Pork Criteria appropriate for defining the American Southwest includes: Watersheds Sunshine Hispanic Missions 3 Three Peoples Vernacular MexAmerica Norteño Native Americans National Parks Chiles Saguaro Coyotes and Grazing are certainly included in the Southwest (so are acceptable choices), but those variables are also prevalent in other regions in the U.S. The poor choices, which use artificial boundaries that are not based on any cultural or environmental variables, include: Geometric NCAA Geographers Park Service Middle East Students may say that none of the variables “best” define the Middle East. All of the maps either extend well beyond what most consider to be the Middle East (Arabic, Camels, Desert, Desert & Steppe, Goat Milk, Islam, Oil, No Pork) or exclude key Middle Eastern countries (Arabic, Camels, Desert, Islam), or both. While none of the variables are perfect, none are poor choices either. All portray some aspect of culture and/or environment that encompasses the Middle East. Question 1.3, where students justify their choices, is more important for the Middle East exercise than for the Southwest exercise. 1.3 Justifications include the following: American Southwest Watersheds Both are major western rivers that evoke images of the Southwest. Their watersheds are in what most would consider the core of the Southwest. Both are major irrigation sources for arid areas. Sunshine One aspect of the Southwest is its dry, sunny climate. Many people migrate to the Southwest for the sunshine. Hispanic A visible Hispanic minority is not unique to the Southwest, but it is an important cultural element here. Missions This is an historical dimension that goes back to the Spanish influence that brought the Spanish language and Catholicism to much of Latin America. Three Peoples This definition is based on the fusion of three cultural heritages and defines the region in terms of the overlap of the three. Vernacular The regional terminology used by residents to describe their own region is a good indicator of the regional identity as perceived by local people. 4 MexAmerica Norteño Native Americans National Parks Saguaro Grazing Coyotes Chile Joel Garreau based his regionalization of North America on the perceptions of newspaper reporters and a whole host of economic, cultural, and environmental factors. He sees the Hispanic influence as what sets the Southwest apart from “The Empty Quarter” which contains most of the rest of the Rocky Mountains. Leon-Portilla’s Norteño includes all of Arizona and New Mexico, plus the Mexican states to the south of AZ and NM. While the exact location of the boundary follows political rather than cultural lines, Leon-Portilla emphasized that these two states are a frontier region with an independent-minded mentality. They are historically isolated from power centers, and historically there has been a lot of human/cultural interaction across this physiographically similar region. While students probably would not know this justification, they might say that it makes sense to focus on these two states that are purely southwestern, and omit those states that could also be classified as part of “The West,” “The Pacific Region,” or “The Great Plains.” Although there are denser concentrations of Native Americans in South Dakota and Oklahoma, the Southwest (because of its inhospitable climate and isolation) was the last refuge of independent Native Americans. Thus, counties with 10% or greater Native American populations retain a strong Native American influence. The Grand Canyon National Park is one of the jewels of the National Park system. Many people make a pilgrimage through the region’s parks using the Grand Canyon as their focus and form their impressions of the Southwest from that trip. But the criteria of ten such parks is arbitrary. If there were a state the size of Delaware in the Southwest, it might simply be too small to have ten such parks, even if it shared all the cultural and environmental attributes of the Southwest. The saguaro cactus of Arizona and Sonora is a prevalent symbol of the southwest and a very good variable to define the region. The abundance of federal land and the arid climate contributes to much grazing in the Southwest. However, this is also true for most of the Mountain West, much of which is outside of the Southwest. The coyote howling at the moon is an enduring symbol of the Southwest (thanks to New Mexico art that popularized this image), but the coyote habitat extends throughout the continental United States. Chile peppers are another prevalent symbol of the southwest, and the states that cultivate chilies would be a reasonable definition of the region. Be aware that the inclusion of California in this variable is simply a function of its huge agricultural industry. 5 Middle East Arabic Most of the Middle East is comprised of Arabic countries (Israel and Iran as notable exceptions), so mapping the Arabic language is a good choice for regional definition. Camels The camel is the traditional pack animal found throughout Saharan Africa and Central Asia, so their prevalence can be an indicator of the Middle East culture region. Note that many areas outside of the Middle East also rely on camels. Desert Many people think of the Middle East as desert. While this is often true, the desert extends well beyond the Middle East (with the Sahara as the most obvious example). Also, much of the Middle East is not desert, so students will need to justify this choice. Desert & Steppe Including steppe regions extends the desert boundary to include more of the Middle East, but also adds much more area that is not Middle East. Goat Milk While goat-milk production is prevalent in the Middle East, it is also prevalent in much of Africa, Asia, and Europe. This variable paints a very broad swath across the region. Irrigated Areas that rely heavily on irrigated land is a better variable than just desert areas, although some countries central to the Middle East are left out (Jordan, Syria and Lebanon). Islam Most of the region is predominantly Muslim (note Israel and Lebanon as exceptions), so Islam is a good choice. Again, this variable extends well beyond the Middle East. Oil At least one of the large oil-producing areas can be used to define the Middle East. No Pork Lack of pork identifies the Islamic and Jewish areas. 1.4 The answer to this questionhow closely do the boundaries of these three variables agreewill depend on which variables a student chooses. If the three variables agree closely, it suggests that there is a sharply defined “core” region that quickly transitions to another culture region. A “domain” occurs as a zone of transition between one culture region and another. It is the area where one or two characteristics are present, but not all three. Students studying the Middle East will likely find a large domain because many of the variables extend well beyond most people’s perceptions of the region. 1.5 Many other variables might be good for defining the American Southwest, including: desert/aridity/soil-moisture deficit irrigated agriculture (though certainly extends into other regions) lizard/coyote/cactus/pastel artwork residential desert landscaping temporary migration of winter residents (“snowbirds”) Mexican Americans as the largest minority skin-cancer rate gun ownership 6 For the Middle East, we might wish to include: garbanzo bean production/consumption semitic languages pita as the dominant bread type prevalence of sheep or goat herding olives or olive oil production/consumption dates or figs production/consumption nomadic population areas where women wear veils/chadors desert + steppe + Mediterranean climate 1.6 Answers will differ from student to student. Students doing the Middle East exercise will most likely have regions that differ greatly from the map variables, since few of the map variables concisely define the Middle East. Activity 2: Culture Traits of Your Culture Subregion 2.1–2.8 Answers will vary by student and by region. Since some will have a hard time coming up with answers to 2.3 and 2.4, this is a good in-class group activity. It also works well when students work on it independently ahead of time, and then discuss the subject openly as a class before handing in their materials. Note: The answer to Question 2.6 will also vary by student and region, as they may not think of things that originated elsewhere a long time ago, such as horses, cattle, English, Christianity, the scientific method, corn, wheat, etc. Question 2.8 can be a good class discussion item. Some students may appreciate the predictability that comes with more standard products—you know what type of food you will find in a certain restaurant, for instance. They may also appreciate the level of standards that are uniformly accepted. However, many may decry this familiarity. After all, if all places look the same and offer the same food or other products, why travel? Many appreciate chance encounters with the unknown, which is less likely to happen in a globalized world. Others may even argue that the world is not becoming more homogenized—that regional uniqueness is alive and well. Students should justify their answers for either the disappearance or continuance of regional cultural traits with good examples. Regional variation continues through speech dialects, political and religious views, food, clothing, and housing adaptations to local climate. Activity 3: Regional Imagery 3.1 The themes shown in postcards will vary from region to region, from place to place within a region, and even by the type of store in which the postcards were viewed. 3.2 Depends on the place. 3.3 Depends on cards selected, but students should think about what key elements define their region and determine if these are represented on the postcards. 7 Note: Many postcards at local stores will show local phenomena that do not apply to the larger region (e.g., cityscapes, campus photos). Likewise, some postcards will show regional phenomena that are not found locally (e.g., wildlife or ranching). 3.4 Frequently, the purpose behind postcards is to increase tourism (boosterism). Cards therefore paint an idyllic version of landscape and life, focusing on dramatic and scenic features while ignoring the mundane aspects of common folk and landscapes. Other times, postcards may have little hope of actually promoting tourism, but serve as a way for local individuals to promote their hometown pride (this tends to be more often the case in small rural communities). Some postcards are intended to be humorous, but rarely are they critical of a region or place. Students may come up with other answers here as well. 3.5 Minorities are often not included in any significant way in the portrayal of a place through picture postcards. At times they may be included, but often in stereotypical or romantic ways. This will, of course, vary between student and by region portrayed. 3.6 Students should justify their answers based on cards collected and the student’s previous answer, but most likely the dominant cultural group defines regional imagery. Regional tourist agencies and chambers of commerce may play a direct role in defining this imagery, or it may be a reflection of prevalent values. Rarely do disenfranchised groups get the opportunity to portray their regional identity or their regional perceptions in postcard format. D. Discussion or Essay Questions Is regionalism disappearing in the United States or Canada as mass consumerism (promoted by such players as McDonalds, The Gap, and Hollywood movies) homogenizes our preferences and habits? (Follow on to Question 2.8.) How do immigrants contribute to or detract from the core values of a place? What acts to keep regionalism alive? How do regional subcultures sustain themselves? Every location is in not one but many formal and functional regions of different types at various geographic scales ranging from small-scale elementary school districts to the developed or developing regions at the international scale. Name some other formal and functional regions we are in, at our exact location here on campus. What do you call the culture regions to the north, south, east, or west of the American Southwest? What are their characteristics? If you were blindfolded, put on an airplane, and taken to Region X [insert a North American culture region], what clues (culture traits) would there be in the cultural landscape that would tell you where you were? 8 Identify the vernacular names for your region. In your opinion, does San Diego have more in common with Prince Edward Island or with the Mexican state of Baja California, just across the border? What are the major differences between the North American culture realm and Latin America? How about between North America and Western Europe? Japan? If you were to design your own postcards, what images would you present to best market your city or region? If you were to choose photographs of your city or region for a cultural geography book, what images best represent the cultural landscape? How do minorities and other disenfranchised groups create their own space within the dominant landscape? With the U.S. involvement in several wars in the Middle East, what regional stereotypes have been promoted through the news? Are these accurate representations of this culture region? What message do they tend to portray? How has regional imagery of China changed in your lifetimes? Can you identify subregions within the Middle East? Based on what criteria? What symbols, icons, slogans, or other marketing materials does your local city and region use for place-making? Compare the following regions technologically, sociologically, and ideologically based on what you know about them: - Portland and Dallas - Western Colorado and Eastern Colorado - Italy and Sweden - England and Australia - China and Japan - North Korea and South Korea - Vancouver and Seattle - Northern California and Southern California Given two regions with similar natural environments, discuss how their cultural landscapes differ, and why. - San Diego and Tijuana - Cape Cod and the Jersey Shore - Florida and Cuba - Nepal and Switzerland - Colorado and Switzerland - Israel and Lebanon 9 Discuss ways that a difference in a single cultural subsystem—technological, sociological, or ideological—can lead to changes in other subsystems? European and East Asian countries typically invest more in public transportation systems, and ridership rates are much higher. Discuss the role of each cultural subsystem—technological, sociological, or ideological—in explaining this difference. Despite roughly similar levels of economic development, Western European countries and Japan have much lower levels of energy consumption [or gun ownership] per capita. Discuss which cultural subsystem—technological, sociological, or ideological—is the biggest reason for this difference. E. Question Bank 1. True/False The Corn Belt is a formal region. 2. True/False The area in which common people refer to themselves as “Midwesterners” is a good example of a functional region. 3. True/False A vernacular region can be defined by the geographic phrase or label with which its own inhabitants label it. 4. True/False The boundaries of perceptual regions are a matter of debate, but formal region boundaries are very clear-cut. 5. True/False A perceptual region is one defined by subjective perceptions that reflect feelings and images about a place. 6. True/False The Middle East is an area where agriculture, domestication of animals, and the urban life developed independently. 7. True/False The term “Three Peoples” refers to the primary Southwest Native American tribes of the Navajo, Hopi, and Apache. 8. True/False If the natural environments of two areas are exactly the same, it is likely that their cultural landscapes will look very similar. 9. True/False Postcards are a way of projecting an area’s cultural identity to the outside world. 10. True/False The dominant themes represented on postcards of an area usually represent the regional identity of the population subgroups with less economic and political power. 11. True/False The Middle East is comprised entirely of Muslims. 10 12. True/False Chapter 2 focuses on two particular cultural regions: the Middle East and the Pacific Northwest. 13. True/False Many towns and cities in Arizona are part of the Mormon culture region’s “sphere.” 14. True/False Many towns and cities in Arizona are part of the Mormon culture region’s “core.” 15. True/False The Mormon culture region’s “core” essentially includes most of the state of Utah. 16. A feeling of being part of a place shared with others who live there is called: a. environmental perception b. functional regionalism * c. regional identity d. core e. vernacularism 17. The cultural landscape is composed of: a. agricultural lands b. houses and buildings c. freeways d. signs * e. all of the above 18. Which of these is not a formal region? * a. the area served by your local airport b. the Amazon rainforest. c. rice-growing region of China. d. the area of France where the Breton language is spoken. 19. The area from which a movie theater draws its customers is an example of: a. a frictionless zone b. a formal region * c. a functional region d. all of the above 20. Which of the following was not given as one of the possible ways of defining the American Southwest in Activity 1? a. the geographic extent of Spanish mission-style churches b. the Rio Grande or Colorado watersheds c. 10% Native American population d. Joel Garreau’s (the Washington Post reporter) “MexAmerica” * e. the area with skin cancer rates equal to twice the national average 11 21. In order of decreasing dominance of a culture, what are the terms used to describe a culture area? a. core, sphere, domain * b. core, domain, sphere c. sphere, domain, core d. sphere, core, domain 22. Syncretism is: a. the separate maintenance of cultural traditions b. the dynamic process of creating cultural regions c. the sense of place that an area has * d. the emergence of a new cultural trait as a cultural hybrid 23. The term geographers use to refer to modifications to the environment by humans that display aspects of their culture, often through symbols, is: a. culture trait * b. culture landscape c. culture marker d. syncreticism 24. An example of a perceptual region of a city would be: * a. the arts district b. the distribution of the local daily newspaper c. the area where Spanish is the predominant language spoken d. the geographic northern half of town 25. Which of the following is not a distinctive feature of the Middle Eastern cultural landscape? a. irrigated fields around villages b. mosques in city centers * c. slashed-and-burned fields within forests d. nomadic trading and herding routes e. All of the above are elements of the Middle Eastern cultural landscape. 26. Which of the following culture traits is least distinctive to your subregion of North America? [Instructors: modify this question as needed.] a. crops b. clothing c. food d. religion * e. mode of transportation 27. Cultural geographers refer to a Middle Eastern “ecological trilogy” consisting of: a. water, wind, and sun b. water, oil, and people * c. cities, farming villages, and nomads d. rain, streams, and springs 12 28. Chapter 2 introduced some terms for defining zones of cultural intensity. The zones were called: * a. core, domain, sphere b. core, semi-core, semi-periphery, periphery c. core, periphery d. heartland, influence, transition 29. The drinking of wine with meals is an example of a French: a. culture region b. regional identity * c. culture trait d. syncretism e. culture boundary 30. Cultural landscape refers to: a. a region created by the interactions between a central node and surrounding locations b. an awareness of being part of a group of people living in a particular region c. the zone of greatest concentration or homogeneity of the culture traits that characterize a region * d. modifications to the environment by humans that reflect aspects of their culture 31. A distinctive item or behavior that can be used to identify the spatial extent of a culture region is called a: a. culture icon b. representative sample c. culture complex * d. culture trait e. culture boundary 32. This graphic would best serve as a symbol identity at which level? a. Mesa *b. Sonoran Desert c. Mormon Culture Region d. Mountain West 33. An area of uniformity in one or several characteristics is a: *a. formal region b. functional region 13 c. perceptual region d. vernacular region 34. A region created by interaction with a central point is a: a. formal region *b. functional region c. perceptual region d. vernacular region 35. An area defined by subjective perceptions (either of locals or outsiders) is a: a. formal region b. functional region *c. perceptual region d. vernacular region 36. A region based on the definitions of local residents is a: a. formal region b. functional region c. perceptual region *d. vernacular region 37. This map of Pizza Hut delivery areas is an example of what type of region? a. formal region *b. functional region c. perceptual region d. vernacular region 38. This map of food most likely to be served with a meal reflects what type of region? *a. formal region b. functional region c. perceptual region d. vernacular region 39. Which of the following is the more popular vernacular description used on business names in Phoenix? a. Sonoran *b. Southwest c. Southern 40. The overlapping area between the Middle East culture region and a neighboring culture region was BIGGEST along the edge of the region that borders: a. Sub-Saharan Africa *b. South Asia (India) 14 c. Europe 41. Which of the following cultural traits spread to the Southwest from somewhere else? a. Catholicism b. grass lawns c. Mexican food d. baseball *e. all of the above 42. Which of the following Southwestern cultural traits is the best example of syncretism? *a. Spanish-language TV talk shows b. eating with forks and knives d. tortilla chips d. all of the above e. none of the above 43. Which of the following is not an example of a cultural trait? a. Religion b. Housing style c. Greeting style d. Eating utensils * e. These are all example of cultural traits. 44. Which of the following is an example of an abrupt transition between culture regions? a. the transition along the Mexico–U.S. border between Spanish as the dominant language in Mexico to English as the dominant language in the United States b. the transition between the curry-based flavors of Indian cuisine to the soy-based flavors of Chinese cuisine * c. the transition from capitalism to communism in Berlin during the Cold War d. None of the above is an example of an abrupt transition between culture regions. They are all examples of graduate transitions. 45. The term “Bible Belt” refers to which type of region? a. Formal b. Functional * c. Perceptual F. Related Issues Regions and Culture The concept of regions has widespread applicability above and beyond the notion of culture. There are physical, population, and economic regions in addition to culture regions. Each instructor will have his or her own opinion on whether to introduce regions or culture first. The 15 region-first approach would be based on the notion that culture regions are an application of the more generic idea of making sense of the world’s spatial variation by regionalizing. The culturefirst approach would be based on the idea that students must first know something about how human life varies from place to place before they can start thinking about organizing it into regions. Nine Nations of North America Joel Garreau’s Nine Nations of North America makes an excellent entree into thinking about the culture regions of North America. Garreau was a Washington Post reporter who, after traveling extensively, was struck by how different life was in different parts of the U.S., and wrote an insightful book about it. In fact, Garreau’s MexAmerica is one of the map overlays students can choose from in Activity 1. This can help students who have not yet formed a mental map of the continent to think about what lies on the other side of the boundary of the American Southwest culture region. One reason why some students have difficulty determining good boundaries of the Southwest is because they don’t have a clear idea about the regions bordering on the Southwest. For these students, naming and describing the neighboring regions may help them define the boundaries between them. Garreau’s map helps them to do this. A similar and more recent book is American Nations by Colin Woodard, in which the author identifies eleven “rival regional cultures” in North America. Slides Slides (digital photos) are an integral part of cultural geography, and in this chapter more than anywhere else in the book, a slide show would make a good accompaniment. If you happen to have slides of your region and the American Southwest and the Middle East, you might want to contrast the three cultural landscapes. Iraq Chapter 13 now has a case study on the political geography of Iraq. Instructors who use the Middle East case study in this chapter may wish to have students read the materials in Chapter 13 to better understand the history and geography of Iraq and the region. 16